Page 126 - Bulletin 18 2014

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An Expert Arrives

As the Colony expanded there was a clear need for proper expertise to organise the supply of

water for the towns and villages which were growing in number as well as size. Many
settlements experienced water shortages and supply difficulties. Realising this, the normally

cautious government decided to create the post of “Hydraulic Engineer to the Colony”. The
appointee was John Gamble, aged 31.

It is quite remarkable how young and relatively inexperienced engineers arrived in this
country in the 19th century and, from scratch, established a branch of their profession in a

remote and rather backward part of the world without the benefit of a mentor or role model.

Gamble was a typical example.

He was born in 1842, the son of a naval surgeon, and was a mathematical prodigy. He won a
scholarship to Oxford, was a brilliant student, and after taking his degree remained at the

University to become a lecturer in mathematics at Lincoln College. During this period he was
awarded the Gold Medal for the Johnson Memorial Prize Essay, his subject being “The Laws

of Wind”.

But academic life was not for him. Suddenly in 1866 he decided to take articles with the well-

known engineer Sir John Hawkshaw. After an initial spell on the construction of the docks at
Hull, he became Resident Engineer on the main sewers at Brighton, where he put his

mathematical skills to good use in devising a system of survey measurements to ensure that

the sinuous tunnels were correctly located.

In 1874 Hawkshaw was appointed by the Brazilian Government to report on the suitability of
several harbour sites in that country, and Gamble and three assistants set sail for Pernambuco.

Shortly after work commenced two of his colleagues took ill and died, while the third was

overcome by the heat and had to return home. Gamble continued with one new assistant, who
later spoke in glowing terms of his superior’s energy in carrying out work in difficult and

dangerous circumstances. The survey was completed after nine months of toil under the most
trying conditions, and Gamble returned to London to draft his report. Almost immediately he

was appointed to the new post of Hydraulic Engineer to the Cape Colony.